FAO Director urges for regulations on unhealthy foods
26 junio 2019

NUTRITION

Healthy eating. As part of the international seminar “The Future of Food” held at FAO headquarters in Rome from June 10 to 11, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva urged member countries to tax unhealthy foods to promote healthy diets. Progress by national governments on the issue is expected to be included in the report “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World”, which was published in 2018 and will be updated next July. To the same end, Graziano spoke with the President of Uruguay, Tabaré Vázquez, about the progress of food labelling in his country.

Graziano said FAO will work to promote the production and consumption of nutritious foods. To meet this objective, governments should promote the intake of local and fresh food and the adoption of healthy lifestyle habits. In doing so, FAO is seeking to combat the rising incidence of obesity in the world, which has links to non-communicable diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

Also, Graziano asked the Uruguayan president for stronger guarantees to ensure that food labelling will come into force on March 1, 2020. According to the decree signed by Vázquez in August 2018, the food industry has 18 months to adapt all its products to the label. On this, the president stated that “he will push the issue with all his political forces” to ensure compliance by the private sector. 

Next Steps

The Director-General of FAO stressed the importance of taxing unhealthy foods to promote healthier diets and lifestyles and combat obesity. It is expected that the countries of the region will progress on this issue and that the extent of this will be looked at in the preparation of the new edition of the report “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World” next July.

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